Did any native trees survive? Tallow and hackberry don't surprise me. Palms live where hurricanes/salt are common so that doesn't surprise me either.It's sad about the Magnolias and Oaks. PJ

Wow... I still haven't been down since the hurricane.

Your posts have actually sounded quite cheery lately. It sounds like you're in a good spot right now, all things considered.

I planted my red skinned Panama Passion Fruit yesterday. I need to get some eye screws and horizontal lines for it to attach to now. I hope I'm not too far north. The tags on the other variety said they were hardy to 32.

You just try and see the positive. The island is still pretty depressing, especially if you drive around at night-you see how much is still dark and empty. I often don't see another car all the way from work to home.
Burglaries are up, no surprise there, noone home, lots of tools at jobsites.
There is still a serial killer running loose, no new victims, no word. The serial rapist/flasher was released from jail.
Approx. 50% of the business' have reopened. They have the posts all set for Murdochs and are starting to rebuild the building. The Flagship is still empty, even the ramp hasn't been replaced.
Blue tarps are still everywhere. Houses are being raised or razed. My brothers house will be raised in 3 weeks. We're still waiting on windstorm to fix the roof, no blue tarp because we have asbestos tiles & they won't put a tarp on those.
There are more restaurants off the Seawall opening back. We all got our appraisals, $7,700.00 decrease for our house, $40,000 decrease for my moms, she is very upset about that. I'm fighting mine, I think with all the trees destroyed, the island with no medical care, the damage, etc. that it should be valued even less.
UTMB built a wall to block off the ER and now has an "urgent" care clinic in the space next to the main ER. They put an article in the paper telling people to call 911 & not to go to the clinic. There is still little or no reconstruction going on, the cafeteria is in a tent in the parking lot, the pharmacy in a portable building in a garage....
Driving home yesterday I really noticed how many trees are dead on the East end. It is worse North of Broadway and on the West end. There was an article in yesterdays paper, there is still a watch and wait approach for trees, don't cut them down yet. It is pretty sad with so many, many dead oaks. Big, huge beautiful trees. So many dead bushes too.

Hackberry is a native, did you know those nasty little berries are EDIBLE?? The Houston Chronicle actually suggested planting them as part of an edible landscape. You'd have to eat a million berries. Sometimes I wonder who writes that stuff. I knew the trash trees would all be fine. You can't kill tallow.

Lots of possums on the island still. Snails and slugs are rebounding quickly. I heard tree frogs for the first time the other night. Still no toads. Found one worm all the time I've been digging, tiny baby so maybe the eggs survived and are hatching. Lots of birds, not so much for them to eat as they migrate through, they can empty 12 feeders in about an hour, without help from the gackles. Coyotes are still here. Lots of pelicans, dolphins and reports of a killer whale just offshore. The sandhill cranes were back for the winter-they've headed north already. Fishing is getting better, shrimpers still having problems with debris in the water. Oyster beds remain closed for the most part.
The holes in the Seawall sidewalk have been repaired. Sand dumping is finished. Work will start soon on repairing the ramps on Seawall that were destroyed. There is a group interested in repainting the mural on the Seawall that was destroyed.
Tally HO!

You working on the mainland, Tally?

We had a speaker up here, from UTMB not too long ago. Sounded like everything was getting moved.

Hey,

Count at least 2 living avocado trees here, including a 16 footer.
How big were the jackfruit trees that you saw? I'm having trouble growing jackfruit seedlings because of the cool winter here. Need a greenhouse. Sad to see images of many dead oak along broadway. Saw workers plant small oak trees and didn't like it one bit. Oak trees take too long to mature. My suggestion was to plant that tree that is evergreen. Leaves smell like camphor. It grows at twice the rate that an oak can or even more and can withstand salty soil better than oak can.Don't know the name of that tree. Nevertheless, a great tree that the city should look into replacing the oak.

I have told DH that we are going to Galveston this summer.
When I was younger and living w/my parents we were in Galveston more than home and I have so many happy, happy memories from there

It has been decided that 80% of the trees on the island are dead or dying. They will start being removed this week. The oaks have already been removed from around the courthouse downtown. A plan is in the works to help homeowners/property owners have trees removed from their property and only have to pay 25% of the cost.

Branches are falling off, trunks are splitting and trees are starting to pull out of the ground.
Tally HO!

This is so sad, Tally, not like you can grow a new one overnight. Poor things just got too much salt water to survive.

Oh it really is Tally,I was praying the trees especially the big old ones would make it.

I read an article in the Dallas Morning News about the condition of the trees down there. It sounds like they're going to be taking a lot of them out. But, the good news is that plenty of people are willing to pitch in to plant new trees. I know it will take many years to grow to what the former trees were, and some of us may not be here to see it, but it is being done for our future generations.

Here is a link that might be useful: Galveston Assessing Condition of Trees Article